Riviera Maya Vacation - Part Twelve

There you have it, folks..............could I have written more about the Grand Palladium Resort?..........well, sure..........but I think I covered the more important stuff. Finally, I can wrap this report up and start blogging about other stuff such as Christmas. Would I come back here to this resort?......... absolutely.

Whenever you read up about a travel destination, you never seem to find anything about the trip to and from the airport...........what is it like?........how long did it take?...........what will you see along the way?..............what are the roads like?................not that it is all that important because you want paradise and you don't really care what surrounds the place since you might not be planning to venture off of the resort property. How can I describe the Mexico that I saw between the Cancun airport and the Grand Palladium Resort?..............I saw no indication of a middle class portion of society. I got the impression that there are only the haves and the have-nots. The main highway appears to flow well and is fairly well maintained. On the other hand, as I would look from our transport van...........the side roads were a display of blight and squalor. Yet mishmashed amongst that are car dealerships and world class resorts.

There is one thing that they do in Mexico that should be done here in the USA..........or at least in Baltimore. Speed bumps........or as they call them "topes"..........without a doubt the most effective method of traffic control.......guaranteed to slow down the traffic between point A and point B. I wouldn't necessarily use them on the Beltway, but this is exactly what should be used in school zones instead of the money-grabbing speed cameras that were recently approved of and installed.

Every single vehicle slows down for these.

As I said, the main highway appears to be well maintained and a smooth ride.........except for those "topes".........hehehe.


Playa Del Carmen is the largest town between the Grand Palladium Resort and Cancun. We just cruised on past without stopping, except for the traffic lights.

It is a growing area and eventually I can imagine the area looking like Daytona. Still..........I could see quite a bit of rubble and squalor.


Poor infrastructure..............okay, we had some heavy rains........but they just don't have the sewer and drainage systems that we enjoy in the States.

You pass by many assorted resort properties...............and they look impressive.............and you can count on them to be well taken care of as well as being well planned with good infrastructure.

The "collectivo"...........it's not a cab........it's not a bus...........but it is how alot of people get to work.

It took us about just over an hour to get to the resort and just as long to get back to the airport. We had direct transportation..........non-stop. Other vacationers, who do not do their "homework", end up on a huge bus that will stop at just about every resort between the airport and their particular vacation spot...........and that could take up to two and a half to three hours each way..........not to mention a higher price for the ride. If you plan on a trip to the Grand Palladium Resort, make sure that you visit the Palladium Addicts website and read everything.

As you ride along, you are reminded that "paradise" isn't really "paradise".

The resort should be thought of as a diamond in the rough.

As you approach the airport..........suddenly everything is similar to being at home.

There are those "topes" again.........well..........that's about it.

The trip was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it.........Supernurse enjoyed it............and we felt appreciated for being there. I look forward to returning........maybe even next year.

If you have any questions about the resort, feel free to put your question in the comments.

I may have a thing or two that I will mention here on the blog about our trip that, for some reason, I may have overlooked.

Now lets get Christmas out of the way..........next trip : The Bellagio in Las Vegas!........in January.

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Riviera Maya Vacation - Part Three

So there I was......................at the beach................and there is nothing better that I can think of doing other than being right there..................and absorbing everything............the sun......the scent........the sound of the waves reaching the shore..........my eyes being filled with so many things to stimulate my brain...............the taste of the air..............the sand.................the sky.............and the assorted people from all walks of life. The bold.......the shy......the pleasant........the arrogant.............the beautiful and the ugly............all of these people were here.......right there on the beach...........and while I was there looking at all of them........they were there looking at me too.......................well....................I guess I stood out just a little............they couldn't miss me with the long ponytail, the ravens shirt, and those hideous sunglasses.

When we first hit the beach, I was a bit surprized to see as many people there as I did. For weeks and weeks I had been checking out the assorted pictures of the beach that were posted on the Palladium Addicts website........and from what I saw, it never looked to me that there were ever very many people on this beach or even at this resort for whatever reason.......particularly in November. I had even been frequently checking the four webcams that are on the website. The pool cams and the beach cam............same thing...........hardly any people to see. On this day.......different story. This day I am there in person to see things with my own eyes and I like it.

We positioned ourselves right about dead center of the entire coastline of the resort....located right up front where we could be seen easily by friends or family that might happen to be checking the webcam from that Palladium Addicts website. Right away, Supernurse and SmileyNurse began their mission to soak up the sun and relax. Me?...........think of me as the "eye-witness".........hehehe.
Wouldn't you want to do this everyday?..........Look at how calm the water is............simply fantabulous..............I felt like the camera being used in a Corona commercial.

While some people just relaxed on the beach, others joined the Palladium staff for water aerobics.

At he farthest point here in this picture is the area where the turtles lay eggs.

People of all shapes and sizes...............roaming about..........and having the time of their lives.

Sometimes you have to try to look away............but it is like when you are driving on the highway and there is an accident up ahead and you just gotta turn your head and look at it.............arrrrgghhhhh!............hehehehe.

The lifeguard tower is where the beach webcam is located. The sign marks the ideal spot to wave at the camera. This was our view to the south from our spot on the beach.

A picture worth a thousand words.............and yet none of those words can even describe being there. There was trouble brewing to the south and we didn't know it at the time...........as beautiful a sight the clouds are as they dump a curtain of water to our south.

There is more to tell and more pictures to show you.
Stay tuned for Part Four!